Mr. Showbiz

A new bio of Rodeo Drive’s fashion godfather

Long before the limos, the paparazzi and the luxe shopping, Rodeo Drive was a sleepy little main street. Then, in 1967, an ex-hotel worker named Fred Hayman turned a small store there called Giorgio Beverly Hills into a high-fashion clearinghouse and celebrity hangout.

Now his story is chronicled in a coffee-table book bursting with glamour shots (of Jayne Mansfield, Jacqueline Bisset, Lauren Hutton and more) and crisp text by fashion journalist Rose Apodaca. Apodaca wrote Fred Hayman: the Extraordinary Difference ($65) over six years of interviews with Hayman and fashion insiders.

Diane von Furstenberg recalls coming to L.A. for a tryst but fitting in time to show Hayman her new wrap dresses. Rita Wilson posits Hayman, who for 10 years consulted to the Oscars, as Hollywood's first celebrity stylist. And store staffers recall Steve McQueen playing pool while Ali MacGraw shopped (besides billiards, Hayman kept a stocked bar and Rolls-Royce at the disposal of his clients).

Giorgio closed its doors to make way for Louis Vuitton in 1998, but this book is a yellow-striped scrapbook for its bygone Hollywood glamour.